Tri Harmaji
History of Religions in Indonesia Part II: from c. 1900 to the Present
Religion and politics in Indonesia: Robert Hefner, Civil Islam: Muslim and Democratization in Indonesia, Nurcholish Madjid, in search of Islamic roots for modern pluralism, the Indonesian experience.
From the reading this is clear how some Muslim people always struggle to create Islamic state in Indonesia. When they with their party, Masyumi, failed to make syaria as the basic law for this country that already have Pancasila, they only willing to accept the Pancasila after they ‘islamize’ it. In the process of Indonesian next history from the old order to the new order this ideal is never extinct. Even under the repressive new order ruler they never buried the ideal.
What interesting here is the fact that although they claimed that 90 % of Indonesian people were Muslim it was not so many people agreed that Indonesia should become Islamic state. This refusal was just not emerging from non-islamic people but also from the biggest part of Muslim people themselves. At that time Masyumi only wined 20% of the people. This bigger part of Muslim willing to create a secular state that accommodates the diverse of Indonesia ethnicity and religion. And Pancasila that it is said was invented by Sukarno became the basic value and law of the country.
The lost of the Islamic state idea, in Indonesia and especially in java, is a sign that Islam does not completely succeed in converting Indonesia like what is believed by many people. The Javanese values that tolerate differences is still hold by many of its people when the time to chose between Islam as their new religion and secular state that more suitable for Javanese value came.
This reality and added with the difficulty of Suharto repressive era toward Islam had made some people, especially the young, more realistic about the idea of Islamic state. One of the most important figures of this group is Nurcolis madjid. His and the groups’ thinking about Islam were different from their senior ones. They did agree with them about establishing Islam as the main religion in Indonesia, but the way of doing so is different from Islamic state strategy of their senior generation. They think that Pancasila is not so contrast with Islamic value. And so accepting Pancasila is not un-islamic. This young people realize that Pancasila is too strong to destroy, and so in effort to establish Islam Muslim leader should find way that not confront to Pancasila.
This changing is particularly interesting. Here Muslim people apparently have known and done what is called as ‘contextualization’. The young generation realizes that the only way to win the competition was by way of understanding the context well and then playing in it wisely. This approach was very popular in the repressive time. And also it is like true that all Muslim people were inside this idea and the former idea of Islamic state is already finished.
When the reformation era came then it is clear that the ideal is never extinct from the mind of Islamic people. Is in this time they will success? We just can wait and see. But as far as I perceive, this movement is much more powerful than before. Their strategy was created of two previous principles: Islamic state idea and dakwah.